In Favor Of 50-cent Gas-tax Boost

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

April 18, 1989

RAISING the federal tax on gasoline by 50 cents a gallon would indeed wreak havoc, as you noted in your recent editorial. You rightly stated that such an increase would make people drive less and result in a decrease in tourist traffic.

You failed to mention that those effects would, in turn, cause a reduction in the number of cars on the road and thus an intolerable decrease in the overcrowding on our streets and highways. Certainly no one wants that. Fewer cars on our roads might even reduce the need for new and improved roads. I shudder at the thought.

Nor did you discuss the following catastrophic consequences of an increased gasoline tax: